You Can't Take Me
by Perinne
Summary: SongFic to the song 'You Can't Take Me' by Bryan Adams. Max is taken by Erasers and is seperated from the flock.


Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, or the song

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Max still remembered that day; two months ago it had happened. The day when she had been separated from the Flock.

Erasers had come out of nowhere, it was the same old story; she and the Flock tried to fight but there was just too many.

This time, however, there was a small difference. Max had been shot; she guessed that the Erasers never had fought fairly.

The bullet had hit her in the shoulder, tearing through one of her outstretched wings and embedding itself deep in her muscle.

The pain had been horrific and she could still remember her terrifying drop through the sky before she was caught by two of the Erasers. She had fallen silently and yet everyone seemed to know what had happened, freezing immediately after the gunshot had shattered the cold, morning air.

The flock were spread out, the closest maybe a hundred metres away. They had all turned and looked at her, even the sightless Iggy who had no way of knowing where she was, they had ignored the Erasers that were now looking on smug silence. Max knew that the rest of the Flock didn't matter to them; they only wanted her.

She looked at each of the Flock's faces in turn, leaving the most painful till last. She knew what she had to do.

"Just go!" She yelled, looking into Fang's dark eyes. "Go now; they don't want you, only me."

Fang face stayed expressionless, his eyes locked with Max's lighter ones. Nothing else seemed to exist; in the whole world there was nothing but the two winged adolescents.

The Erasers decided they had waited long enough and began to drag Max backwards through the air.

"Go!" She yelled one last time, keeping her eyes on Fang, not daring to even glance at the faces of the younger flock members or at Iggy.

She pinpointed the exact moment he realised that there was nothing he could do and watched as he motioned the three crying younger Flock members and a pale-faced Iggy to fly away.

Fang was the last to turn away, anguish showing on his face for a split second before he flew gracefully away to join the others.

_Why did it all go wrong? - I  
wanna know what's going on  
And what's this holding me?  
I'm not where I supposed to be  
I gotta fight another fight  
I gotta fight with all my might  
I'm getting out, so check it out  
you're in my way  
Yeah you better watch out ohhh c'mon_

She had been dragged roughly back to the school, Fang's face and the sobs of Angel, Nudge and Gazzy haunting her the whole way. She knew it was right, that they were safer this way but she couldn't help feeling hurt that they had left her, couldn't help feeling slightly betrayed.

The school was still the same place; home of psychotic doctors, human-animal hybrids and all that jazz.

Upon arrival, Max was thrown into a bare room, with nothing but a security camera high up in one of the corners, fastened to the sterile, white wall by four metal screws.

The Erasers leered at her before closing the heavy metal door behind them. She listened mutely as the locks were slid into place

Then, nothing.

For many days nothing happened. Food was delivered three times a day but Max did not eat for fear it might be drugged. No tests occurred, she was not taken to meet any Whitecoats, Jeb did not come and visit as he had in the past.

She began to think that maybe she was being tested, that maybe the Whitecoats were seeing how well she could cope on her own, without any interaction.

Slowly, a plan began to form inside her head. Max knew she had to escape, knew she had to see the Flock again.

_Don't judge a thing until you know what's inside it  
Don't push me - I'll fight it  
Never gonna give in - never gonna give it up no  
If you can't catch a wave then  
you're never gonna ride it  
You can't come uninvited  
Never gonna give in - never gonna give up no  
You can't take me I'm free_

It had been seven days since Max had been captured, a week, it seemed like a lifetime.

For those seven days she had done nothing, sitting huddled in a corner, sometimes lying down. Often she glared balefully at the camera, at the people she knew were watching.

She noticed that the camera had a single blind spot; directly underneath it. This blind spot was also close to the metal door that was the only way in, and the only way out.

For the next few days she relaxed her muscles, made her face impassive, trying to look weak, docile. Slowly, ever so slowly, she also began to move towards the cameras blind spot.

Max's whole plan depended on the hope that, if she sat underneath the camera, in the blind spot, for long enough, the Whitecoats would become worried as to why they couldn't see her. Maybe they would think there was something wrong with the camera, and maybe, hopefully, they would send someone to fix it, to check if she was still there. Since the camera was nearly above the door, it would be very easy to attack whoever was sent to check and very easy to get out of the door and escape.

_You can't take me Yeah!  
Got to fight another fight - I  
gotta run another night  
Get it out - check it out  
I'm on my way and I don't feel right  
I gotta get me back - I can't be  
beat and that's a fact  
It's OK - I'll find a way  
It ain't gonna take me down no way yeah_

The plan had only a slight chance of working, Max knew that, but she had to keep fighting. Every time she closed her eyes she saw that last anguished look that Fang had given her before flying away, saw Iggy's pale face, his frustration at not being able to do anything yet again. Her cell was silent and yet she kept hearing the sounds of the younger Flock members crying, sobbing her name.

She had to get out and, as more time passed, her determination grew.

Max spent what she estimated to be about two days sitting in the corner near the door, out of the cameras view.

At the end of the second day, she heard voices outside the door.

"I don't know," She heard a whining, slightly high-pitched voice say. "She's either not in there, or there's something wrong with the camera."

"Of course she's in there, how could she have got out?" A lower, more gravely voice demanded.

_An Eraser_, Max realised. _The other one must be a Whitecoat, or some type of lackey._

"Either way," The Whitecoat replied, "I'm going to have to go in there."

"You wait out here, I'll go in." The Eraser growled, "From what I've heard it's pretty unpredictable."

The Whitecoat snorted, "You have to be kidding me, I've watched the surveillance; all she does is lie there. All the fight's gone out of her; she won't even put up a struggle."

Max smiled to herself, so her plan had worked. She slowly and silently manoeuvred herself off the ground and into a crouch.

On the other side of the door, the conversation continued:

"Fine, go right on in," The Eraser told the unsuspecting Whitecoat. "But if it hurts you, I won't be running to get help."

There was silence and Max wondered if getting past the Eraser might be a problem; he was wary, and also seemed smarter than the other Erasers that she and the Flock had come across.

She wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans and pushed thoughts of the Flock from her mind, preparing for the fight she knew was coming. _I have to do it for them._

The sound of the door being unlocked cut through the silence that had occupied the room for days, making Max feel more alert, more prepared. It swung inwards, hiding Max in the corner.

A slightly overweight, balding man wearing a grubby white coat stepped around the door, towards the camera and also towards Max.

Her fist connected with his face and she smiled as she heard his nose break. He fell backwards, cracking his head against the hard concrete floor and effectively knocking himself out.

Max smiled again and, bending down, grabbed the key card from his limp hand.

The Eraser stepped into the doorway just as she was stepping out. He snarled, revealing long, sharp-looking canine teeth, and swung his fist viciously towards Max's face.

She ducked and quickly kneed him where it hurts. He doubled over and Max bought her knee up to connect with his face before running down the dim, white hallway.

She kept running, desperately looking for a door that led outside. As she ran, Max noticed that most of the lights were out and that there was no one around; no Whitecoats, no Erasers, no experiments. It was almost as if the School had closed down for the night or something.

Smiling at her good luck, she reached for the closest door and swiped the key card. The door swung open to reveal another hallway, as dimly lit as the first. Max was about to turn away when she noticed a small, green glow at the end of the hall. She looked at it more closely, hardly daring to hope, but it was what she had thought; an exit sign, placed above a door that must lead to the outside.

She took off, running faster than before, desperation lending her speed.

Just as she reaching the door, however, another Whitecoat stepped out in front of her.

He turned in surprise at the sound of her footsteps. "What?" He asked dumbly, confusion obvious in his voice. "Who are you?"

Max pushed him against the wall. "I'm Maximum Ride," She spat. "And I will never give in; the fight will never go out of me."

She slammed his head against the wall, walking away as he slumped to the ground unconscious.

_Don't judge a thing until you know what's inside it  
Don't push me - I'll fight it  
Never gonna give in - never gonna give it up no  
If you can't catch a wave then  
you're never gonna ride it  
You can't come uninvited  
Never gonna give in - never gonna give up no  
You can't take me I'm free_

Once outside, Max took a running take off. Unfurling her wings and rising gracefully into the sky.

_Oh yeah I'm free_


End file.
